For several years the Minnesota brethren have toyed with the idea of having a booth of religion at the State fair. Though the idea is not new the actual conducting of such a booth was new to all involved. The problems seemed great and intricate. In reality they were rather simple.
The home missionary secretary, C. E. Guenther, and the Book and Bible House manager, K. I. Foss, served on the committee headed by the conference treasurer, E. R. Colson, to make the detailed plans for the project, and I also took an active part.
After securing a booth in the stadium through which several hundred thousand people passed during the days of the fair, we got down to definite planning. One side of the booth was assigned to the Book and Bible House for their display. The other side was reserved for the conference. There being several churches in the municipal area, each church was assigned the responsibility of furnishing attendants for one day. A i6-mm. movie was installed, and we used the two films "Black Diamonds" and "Light Bearer of the Amazon." Because the booth was at the foot of one of the stairways, the people returning from the grandstand saw the pictures greeting them as they came down. This attracted their attention, and many stopped.
By careful count and frequent observations we determined that our booth was the best at tended of any religious or literature booth at the fair. Many stopped to look at the pictures, and then asked questions. Approximately fifty thousand pieces of literature were given out, some people returning the next day to get more literature. Though not many of the large books were sold, many of the people browsed around, looked them over, and were favorably impressed with the books displayed, and by the courtesy of those who served them.
The variety of callers was very interesting. They were from youth to aged, from the poor to the very rich. One man who stopped was a manufacturer whose product is carried all over the world. This year he had toured South America, and had visited Adventist missions there. Next year he is going to tour Africa, and is making a special provision to visit many Seventh-day Adventist missions—not to sell, but to learn more about "this very active and interesting people."
Based upon our experience at the fair, we feel that the "Booth of Religion" is a worthwhile project, and we plan to repeat the experiment next year. All who took part saw the need of a new type of filmstrip—something with a number of short feature stories. This could be made up of pictures from different mission fields. Possibly one might be entitled "Peoples of All Nations" or "Adventists of All Nations," with complete short episodes frequently emphasizing personalities. We found that not many people will stay and watch a complete forty-minute film. Therefore, a film composed of a number of shorts, with many anticlimaxes, would be the best for this type of work.
All in all, we consider that the experiment was well worth the expense, and hope to secure the same booth next year and repeat our same experience, with improvements.
